Katie Rempe: Hey there, Magical Makers. Welcome back to Knit a Spell.
I'm your host, Katie Rempe,
and today's episode is especially meaningful because it takes place around a very real situation in my life. One where magic and knitting helped me navigate a particularly intense event, Hurricane Milton.
Light from Lantern presents Knit a Spell. I'm your host, Katie Rempe, designer, knit witch, and your companion in this magical making podcast. Together, let's explore the enchanted world where knitting meets the magic of the craft.
Hurricane Recap
---
Katie Rempe: As some of you might know, I've been visiting my folks in Sarasota, Florida, since September.
And if you've been watching the news at all, you may recognize that city because that is exactly where the eye of the hurricane hit home. In my home.
This has been an especially exciting visit because just two weeks prior, I was also here for Hurricane Helene.
Last Wednesday, when an episode was supposed to come out, is when the hurricane hit.
By the afternoon, you could definitely see the effects, and by the evening, of course, right when it gets dark, that's when things got real.
If you've ever lived through a hurricane, and you've had the opportunity to experience the eye moving directly over you, it is a singularly unique experience.
It went from wind and rain in one direction to Complete and utter silence for about 45 minutes, enough to where you really think and hope maybe it's over. Oh no, it wasn't.
It was a thankful break where I could quickly get the dog out to do her business. Yes, she peed in the eye of the hurricane, but generally it is not something you want to do because Unfortunately, it came back with a vengeance, and in a totally different direction.
What I thought was strong wind and rain at first quickly proved me wrong, because the second half of the hurricane, the other side of the eye, was even stronger.
So much so that at one point we were in our safe space, and we heard the front door alarm go off, meaning someone was trying to get in? It was Milton. Milton was trying to get in. Suddenly the expression Katie bar the door became extremely literal.
Luckily, we managed to rebrace the doors. They stayed in place. We found extra brackets that actually we'd even forgotten to use. So everything came out to hold the door and keep the hurricane from coming inside.
By 2 a. m. on Thursday morning, things were dying down. And I mean that in a way that the wind that you might have thought initially was quite bad suddenly became very calming in the sense that it was a lot less than what we had just been in. So, at that point, it was sort of like, okay, we're over the worst of it, and then we just had to wait till the morning to assess the damage.
In the end, we were very lucky.
Despite all the damage and chaos in the area, we only lost power for two days.
And while there were branches flying all through the yard, and a little bit of damage to the house,
basically our property and our trees were spared. So thankful.
Many others in our area were not so lucky, especially if they were in manufactured homes or by the water.
And truly, my heart goes out to them.
The true heroes of this story are the line workers who worked tirelessly to restore power in what I think is an incredibly short amount of time. For most people, unfortunately, there are still folks out there without power or without water, and I can just hope that it's restored quickly.
Magic Spell Jar for Protection
---
Katie Rempe: Now, you all know how I love combining knitting and magic, and in this case, I truly believe the magical aspect really helped us.
Before the storm hit, I decided to make a spell jar for protection, because I had just designed a protection sigil this summer to go into designs, which you'll find out more about in upcoming episodes.
And so before the storm hit, I wanted to do my part in casting as much magical protection as I could by utilizing that sigil and some hurricane water that I had collected from the previous hurricane. Yeah, Helene!
I had collected two jars of hurricane water from Helene.
One was collected from the first band of bad weather that came through. And then the second one was collected from the biggest part of the hurricane that we got and the tornado action. That's the jar that I utilized for this spell because I wanted it to be supercharged and sometimes you have to fight fire with fire. And if you look at these two jars, you can even see one is very active versus the other one that's a little bit more chill. So going for the active agent where it's still condensating in the cup seemed like the right choice. And that's what I did.
Sigil Activation
---
Katie Rempe: So let's talk a little bit more about how I use this sigil and how I activated it. Because it was more than just water and a symbol.
But first, let's have a quick recap on what a sigil is.
And that is a magical symbol created with intention.
In this case, I wanted to protect everything I hold dear,
including the entire state.
So I started by drawing my protection sigil here on a post it note that I then attached on the outside of the spell jar.
To give the sigil power, I used hurricane water from the most powerful part of Hurricane Helene,
so while that water was busy energizing the spell, I also put additional elements to make it specific on what else I wanted to bring in and protect.
In the previous storm, I had also created a cord to tie up the bad weather.
Symbolically, it seemed like the right thing to do to cut that cord up into the water, as if to tell the storm, you need to disassemble, pulled apart. You need to just dissipate. Stop having it be organized because organization in a hurricane means strengthening.
And at one point, it was a Category 5, which would have been devastating. Catastrophic.
And so, cutting up this cord was unraveling its power, and those cord bits, lived in the water. As you can see, they're still there, floating now at the top, although while the spell was currently active, they were all at the bottom, interestingly enough.
I also added to the water lots of good luck oil.
This is my go to good luck oil made by Madam Pamita at Parlor of Wonders. I also use this for gambling and it's pretty good. Side note, I was gambling that this was going to work.
And in the end, we could use as much luck as we could get. So I was not stingy by using this and using it often.
And the final element that I added into the water were ice cubes. And I kept adding ice cubes. Anytime they melted, I would add more in. And because I'm into numerology, I did it in numbers of three. I wanted to create the energy of breaking things up, being lucky, and being protected.
In case you're not familiar with hurricanes, if it comes across cold water, that's another element that can break it up, disorganize it, and reduce the power.
And you might be thinking, well, that's a small jar for you to keep adding water. Yes, I was siphoning it off and using that water to place around the property before things got really bad. I used the water around the trees that I was hoping would stay up. I did it to the threshold of our garage and our front door.
I went around back and made sure our backyard was protected as well. Basically, any place that I could think of placing the water around to make our barrier of protection even stronger, that's what I was using all this extra water for. Because you can create more spell water just by putting water in it.
That's part of the magic of water.
And maybe I'm delusional, but I feel like This is a big part of the reason that our trees survived and didn't get blown over, like many others in the area. That and my parents are very proactive in booting the tree, which essentially is like thinning out your hair, but branches. And that means the wind didn't have as much to gather onto, and instead would blow through more readily.
And that seems to have really worked.
Sometimes magic is just being proactive.
And so this spell jar was then placed in the middle of the house so that everyone who walked by it would see it and put extra intention in there. We're safe. We're doing all we can. Put more ice in it.
Hurricane Knitting
---
Katie Rempe: But at a certain point you've done your magic and you have to just let it start working. And instead of fretting over it, I decided, well, let's start a project.
Otherwise, I just would have been sitting like this the whole time and that's not productive.
So I sourced yarn from my extremely local yarn store, and by that I mean my stash that I still have from when I lived here ten years ago.
Sorry, Mom and Dad. Thanks for keeping all my yarn all this time. And part of that 10 year old stash was this stunning canary yellow for better or worsted yarn by Anzula Luxury Fibers. is from back in the day when cashmere blends were very popular and I'm sad that they're not around as much, but I was very excited to see that Anzula still makes this yarn And in this color.
As a person who worked in the yarn industry, that is very rare to have a yarn line around for that long and in the same original colors.
So if you're looking and loving this yarn, you can still buy it right on their website. I will include a link. We're not affiliated. I just really like the people who work there.
I felt like I was knitting with a friend because I was always friendly with Calliope, who owns Anzula. We would always chat at the shows that we were at together, so it became the obvious choice and I happen to have two because why buy one hank of at the time 34 yarn when you could buy two for 68 I can do math.
Side note. Remember I said I bought this 10 years ago. This yarn has only gone up in price by 3 dollars!
Katie Rempe: I figured it would be like ten, like everything else.
And it'd still be worth it! So other than it feeling like I'm knitting with a friend and this color being so bright, it's very much like the sun. And what was I hoping for? That the sun would come out tomorrow. And so that was another influence in terms of what should I make? I wanted it to be something just on the fly that I didn't have to pay attention to, didn't have to record anything, because this was just to be a distraction.
Anything that I actually made was just a bonus.
And so I decided to cast on a center out shawl.
And again, since I'm into numerology, I went for a hexagon shape because the number six is very comforting. It's two threes, so you're creating things that you want. It's like homecoming. It just all made sense. And, um, Here it is. I mean, it's not finished yet, but you can get a really great idea. It was very much like the sun.
So again, that sun will come out tomorrow, brighter days ahead, keep hope alive, all very much part of the intention in this piece.
And so I started knitting it and I thought, well, you know, a weird circular shawl. I guess that's a thing. I don't know how I'd wear it. Oh, wait! Does it have to be a shawl? No. You know what I had always been wanting to make recently? A tarot spread cloth. And so the intention suddenly became like, oh, I have six sections that I could pull six cards or do three cards, one card, you know, whatever you want.
There were so many options within this hexagonal shape to do some really interesting tarot spreads. So that just seemed like the perfect thing.
So when this is done, I'm definitely using it as my spread shawl, and I'll probably use it anytime I do public readings. Who knows? Maybe I'll do a reading for you one day, and it will be on this very cloth.
Now, I know showing this off may inspire people to want to ask me about the pattern. Where is it? They want to make one. Well, I made no notes
but now, I'm thinking maybe I could draft a pattern for this, and maybe it won't be exactly how you see it here, but this will definitely be the inspiration, and I think the pattern may even be a bit of a recipe. So, if you're a person who wants a pattern for any gauge, this could work out that way, if you are okay with using a little bit of creativity, and doing a little swatching.
I don't have the pattern written up yet, but it is something I plan to do soon. So, if you are a member of the Knit A Spell Patreon, you will be getting this pattern recipe for free once I make it. And if you aren't, I'll be putting it on sale on my Ravelry as well.
If you want to be the first to find out more about that, of course, keep watching here. But also, you can sign up for my free newsletter at LightFromLantern. com.
As I reflect back, it's amazing how using the sigil and the knitting really helped me have a sense of calm in a time where I really couldn't control anything.
The sigil held space for protection while my hands felt grounded by the work.
There's something truly magical about that combination. The practical and the mystical coming together as one. Which is really what Knit A Spell
is all about.
Critical Thinking Skills & 'The News'
---
Katie Rempe: Now, this isn't my first hurricane experience, although it was my scariest and most intense hurricane experience. And it made me realize as I was sharing updates on my social media that a lot of people, obviously, haven't experienced a hurricane. Which is good!
And I want to stress something really important.
We were incredibly lucky, but many people weren't.
So while it's easy to get caught up in magical thinking,
it's crucial to remember the real devastating effects that this had for many people.
And as I was reminded of as I shared updates on my social media, lots of people have not been through a hurricane, and so where they were getting their news and updates about what was happening is something that I really wanted to address.
It is extremely important to be mindful of where you get your news. As I mentioned on my Instagram as things were happening in real time, And receiving messages from my loved ones who were freaked out from afar, completely understandable.
I just want to remind you that these are times when outlets use tactics to keep viewership high.
And a lot of times this can cause unnecessary stress because they will report on the worst of the worst and they'll keep throwing it in your face because that's how they get the clicks and you staying on their network.
And that isn't to say that you shouldn't take these things seriously. You absolutely should.
But whenever possible, it's a good idea to search for local news stations. So the Weather Channel is maybe one of the worst places that you can go because they want it to be as entertaining as possible and they are Advocates of doing the complete opposite thing that you should do.
Anyone who has people live on the scene getting blown away, they're gonna get hurt and they're being terrible examples for people. You should be going inside, reporting from inside in the safety. Be good examples of what we should all be doing.
Which is why also paying attention to the language that's being used is important as well. Consider the political commercials that we're all seeing right now. It's very similar.
It's also important to pay attention to Dates? When things are happening. A lot of time, especially on social media, they will be using footage from totally different situations. Not even what they are supposedly reporting on, just because it looks better. Or they could be showing situations from the actual event, but that was like a week ago. So just be mindful. Use those critical thinking skills and it will go a long way in helping you reduce stress and look and see what the real information is.
And to everyone who reached out with their concern and support, I am so grateful. Thank you so much. I felt so loved this week, it was a great help and very supportive and I appreciate each and every one of you, even if I haven't met you yet.
If you're interested in learning more about this protection sigil that I designed, don't worry. The upcoming two episodes goes all into it, why it was designed the way it was, how it's going to be used in knitted items, and I even have Laura Tempest Zakroff on to give me a little critique on how I did.
These are going to be some really great upcoming episodes to help wrap up our October and hopefully end it on a really good note.
Subscribe!
---
Katie Rempe: Thanks so much for tuning into this very special episode of Knit A Spell. Subscribe right here on YouTube to never miss an episode. And to all of my new recent subscribers, welcome. I'm so happy to have you here. I have loved talking with you in the comments. Keep them coming.
Patreon After Show
---
Katie Rempe: Patreon subscribers can look forward to this week's after show directly after the show.
I'll be sharing five simple yet powerful ways that you can combine knitting to help you empower yourself in times of stress. Trust me, you won't want to miss it. Pop on over to our Patreon, it's patreon.com/knitaspell for just 5 a month you can unlock all of the after shows that we've had so far and all the other goodies that we've had over the years
all while supporting the show. Until next time, stay safe, stay magical, and keep knitting intention into those stitches.
Merry Make!
Speaker 6: Thanks for tuning in. If you enjoyed the show, consider sharing it with a friend, leaving a review on iTunes or Spotify, and supporting us on Patreon to enjoy exclusive content. You can also subscribe to the Light From Lantern YouTube channel to receive a notification whenever a new episode of Knit A Spell is released.
And as always, I'd love to hear your feedback on this episode, so be sure to leave a comment on YouTube or on Patreon. See you next week!
